Life and Letters of John Gay (1685-1732) | Page 7

The periodical publications of the day are passed under review: the
Observer, founded in 1702 by John Tutchin, and after his death five
years later, conducted by George Ridpath, editor of the Flying Post,
until 1712, when it had almost entirely ceased to please, and was finally
extinguished by the Stamp Tax; the weekly Examiner, set up in August,
1710, in opposition to the Whig Taller, numbering among its
contributors Dr. King, St. John, Prior, Atterbury, and Freind, and
managed by Swift from No. 14 (October 26th, 1710); the Whig
Examiner, the first issue of which appeared on September 14th, 1710,
its five numbers being written by Addison; the Medley, another Whig
paper, which ran from August, 1710, to August, 1711, and was edited
by Arthur Mainwaring, with the assistance of Steele, Oldmixon, and
Anthony Henley (a wit and a man of fortune, to whom Garth dedicated
"The Dispensary," and who distinguished himself by describing Swift
as "a beast for ever after the order of Melchisedec"). The Tatter, which
appeared three times a week from April 12th, 1709, to January 2nd,
1711, was of course mentioned, and well-deserved tributes were paid to
Steele and Addison. Of Addison he wrote with appreciation, but briefly:
"This is that excellent friend to whom Mr. Steele owes so much, and
who refuses to have his pen set before those pieces which the greatest
pens in England would be proud to own. Indeed, they could hardly add
to this gentleman's reputation, whose works in Latin and English poetry
long since convinced the world that he was the greatest master in
Europe of those two languages." Of Steele, Gay wrote at greater length:

"To give you my own thoughts of this gentleman's writings, I shall, in
the first place, observe that there is a noble difference between him and
all the rest of our polite and gallant authors. The latter have
endeavoured to please the age by falling in with them, and encourage
them in their fashionable views and false notion of things. It would
have been a jest, some time since, for a man to have asserted that
anything witty could be said in praise of a married state, or that
devotion and virtue were any way necessary to the character of a fine
gentleman. Bickerstaff ventured to tell the town that they were a parcel
of fops, fools and coquettes; but in such a manner as even pleased them,
and made them more than half-inclined to believe that he spoke truth.
Instead of complying with the false sentiments and vicious tastes of the
age--either in morality, criticism, or good breeding--he has boldly
assured them that they were altogether in the wrong; and commanded
them, with an authority which perfectly well became him, to surrender
themselves to his arguments for virtue and good sense. It is incredible
to conceive the effect his writings have had on the town; how many
thousand follies they have either quite banished, or given a very great
check to! how much countenance they have added to virtue and religion!
how many people they have rendered happy, by showing them it was
their own fault if they were not so! and, lastly, how entirely they have
convinced our young fops and young fellows of the value and
advantages of learning! He has indeed rescued it out of the hands of
pedants and fools, and discovered the true method of making it
amicable and lovely to all mankind. In the dress he gives it, it is a
welcome guest at tea-tables and assemblies, and is relished and
caressed by the merchants on the 'Change. Accordingly there is not a
lady at Court, nor a banker in Lombard Street who is not verily
persuaded that Captain Steele is the greatest scholar and best casuist of
any man in England. Lastly, his writings have set all our wits and men
of letters on a new way of thinking, of which they had little or no
notion before: and, although we cannot say that any of them have come
up to the beauties of the original, I think we may venture to affirm, that
every one of them writes and thinks much more justly than they did
some time since."
Gay's agreeable personality secured him many friends. Not later than

the spring of 1711 he made the acquaintance of Henry Cromwell,
whom he later described as "the honest hatless Cromwell with red
breeches," by whom he was introduced to Pope, who was at this time a
member of Addison's circle, and generally recognised as a rising man
of letters. Pope evidently liked Gay, who was his senior by nearly three
years, but was as a child in worldly wisdom. On July 15th, 1711, Pope
wrote to Cromwell, "Pray give my service to all my friends, and to